WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 70: 26. The Bewitching Platinum-Blonde Santa Girl Who Came to Find Me in the Middle of the Night, and

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"......"

Words failed me.

Maybe it was a reward for being a good boy all year, but I couldn't close my gaping mouth at the sight of Santa Claus-nim, who had come to find me.

"......"

She stood before me in the same silence, holding a faint smile as she looked at me.

This was no ordinary Santa outfit.

Her upper chest and cleavage were on full display. The top was cropped short enough that her waist and navel showed completely.

Instead of the baggy pants you'd find on a normal Santa costume, she wore a mini skirt that left most of her thighs bare.

And yet her arms were covered in long sleeves, a cape draped over her shoulders, a Santa hat perched lightly on her head, ribbons tied at the hat and waist.

One spoon, no, three generous spoonfuls of cute stirred right into the middle of all that sexy.

While I stood there dazed and slack-jawed, the Santa girl in front of me swept the hair from the side of her face and bent at the waist.

"So. What do you think of Santa Claus?"

The bow only made Elli's full chest stand out even more. And that little gesture of sweeping her hair back, every time I saw it, added something to the air around her that I couldn't quite name.

"Do you like it?"

The shock of the bunny girl outfit had only just barely started to fade, and now here was Elli, lighting a brand new fire in my chest with a Santa cosplay.

I finally, belatedly, managed to get my mouth working.

"...When did you buy the san-- no, I like it. You look unbelievably pretty."

"I was going to confiscate your kissing privileges if you asked when I bought it first... consider yourself lucky."

"You wouldn't have been able to hold out anyway--"

"What?"

"Nothing."

While we traded that small bit of banter, Elli, who had been striking a sexy pose, slowly started toward me, one step at a time.

The cozy basement filled with her scent, and the closer she got, the more intensely it wrapped around me and numbed my senses.

It was like that yesterday when I held her, but today there was something even more...

-Swish

Elli's arms slid lightly up onto my shoulders. She stepped between my loosely parted knees and stood there.

I wrapped my arms around the waist of the impossibly pretty Santa Claus-nim in turn. It felt almost too audacious to actually hold her, but the ring on the fourth finger of my left hand gave me the strength and nerve to do it.

That ring was the mark and proof that this Santa girl was mine.

"I ordered it the day I did the Alice cosplay. I asked Mina-unni about it."

"Ah... you said you had something to talk to her about, so you were late, right? That's why. You were buying this."

"Lee Do-yoon. Scoot back a little."

"Huh? Yeah. Okay."

-Creak...

My body moved before I could even think about it. I shifted back toward the center of the bed, and Elli pressed me down.

-Thud

Elli lay down on top of me on the bed. She propped herself up with both hands planted on either side of my face and looked down at me with a sultry smile.

Her face was, of course, incredibly pretty. But honestly, where my eyes actually went...

"......"

"Pervert."

I couldn't argue with being called a pervert. When my girlfriend's chest was right there in front of me in that adorably sexy Santa outfit, looking away just wasn't an option.

It wasn't like being called that was anything new, and at this point I decided to just lean into it.

"Do I get a reward?"

For me and Elli, asking for a reward was basically the same as straight-up asking for one of those soft, full embraces she'd given me back when she wore the bikini or the bunny outfit.

Elli's lips curved up at the corners.

"I already gave you your reward this year with the bunny girl. What more do you want?"

"But I was well-behaved today too, so maybe that counts...?"

"You want a reward for a single day? Have you no shame?"

"Fair point. That was a little shameless of me."

All the while, my hands were still wrapped around Elli's waist. And the fact that her body was this warm even in the middle of winter told me she was pretty worked up about the whole situation herself.

She was going to give me the embrace-as-reward either way. But it seemed like she was enjoying watching how I'd get there.

So I racked my brain as hard as I could.

If not a reward, then...

"......So."

"So?"

"What about a present? You came all this way as Santa Claus-nim to bring me one, right?"

"A present... hmph."

"A Christmas present... yeah?"

"That one actually works."

"Right?"

I lit up at the thought of a present from Santa Elli, and my girlfriend's lips started to tremble at the corners.

Then she pressed one hand to my chest and leaned down, bringing her face close to my cheek.

"You're adorable every single day... makes me want to eat you up..."

-Smooch!

She murmured in a flushed voice and kissed me on the cheek.

She sat back up and shifted just enough to hover above my head, then...

-Mmph...

"Hah--!"

She let all the tension out of her body and pressed down onto my face.

"There. Your present."

With her chest.

Arms completely slack, pulling my head close.

Just like when she gave me a reward, she wrapped me in warmth and softness and her overwhelming scent, and made me utterly happy.

It left me breathless, but in the best possible way.

-Squeeze!

A chest hug that felt wonderful every single time. By now I'd gotten a little used to it, so instead of just melting into the embrace, I reached up and held her back around her hips.

I savored the softness against my face and the warmth of my girlfriend's lower half pulled close, and then I rolled us both sideways with her still in my arms.

-Creak, creak...

With the old cot groaning beneath us, our positions flipped.

Elli looked up at me and flicked her tongue across her lips.

"You dare look down at Santa? Are you asking to get in trouble?"

She said something she clearly didn't mean, expression full of sultry mischief, smile still playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Because Santa-nim is too pretty. Any chance you'll let it slide?"

I felt a grin spreading across my face as I shot back.

"Depends how you do."

"I'll do my best, Santa-nim."

"Hmm... all right. Let's see it."

"......"

"......"

"Mm..."

The bright glow of my girlfriend's face in that platinum-blonde hair, the look in her eyes, the smile on her lips.

I pressed mine to hers, same as always.

I cupped her small face in my hands, traced across those red lips, and started another long, unhurried kiss, the way we had done who knew how many times over this single past year.

"Hmm... mmph, mm... mh..."

Elli's slender arms wrapped around my neck, and partway through she pulled me closer herself, tilting her head up and tangling her tongue with mine.

I felt almost like I might cry.

From happiness.

Having a warm, close-knit family, neighbors who had become closer than any relative, and the most beautiful girlfriend in the world right here beside me. The happiness that gave me was beyond any words I had.

And the fact that the girl I loved more than anyone had prepared all this just for me filled me with so much joy.

Even though I had told her I didn't need surprises, that whatever we did we should do together without secrets, she was the kind of girlfriend who went and planned a surprise anyway.

But what did that matter.

She was this cute. This pretty.

I was just so happy.

"Mmph... ha..."

"I love you, Elli."

"...I love you too."

-Kiss!

"You taste good."

"My lips taste good?"

"Incredibly."

"Hmph... give me yours. I'm going to taste yours too."

"Mm--"

-Mh...

"Hah... hey..."

"What."

"This Santa outfit, isn't it a little too... isn't it kind of revealing? The skirt is... agh!"

"Don't look down there. You'll see my underwear."

"......"

"...Do you want to look?"

"I... uh... well... honestly...?"

"......"

"......"

"...No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think I'll be able to stop myself."

"I can resist--"

"Me."

"Oh."

"I don't want to break the promise I made with your mom. I really like Uncle Mark and your mom, both of them."

"That's... fair enough. I really like Uncle Mark and your mom too. I get that feeling."

"Then that's all that matters."

-Kiss

"Besides..."

"Besides?"

"The underwear, it's a little too... much. I'd feel weird showing you."

"......"

"Haha... your face right now is really... did that make you want to see it even more... hm... mm... mh..."

I covered her teasing lips with mine. The excitement had nowhere else to go, so I poured it all into the kiss.

We explored each other's lips and tongues for a good while longer before finally pulling apart.

I ran my fingers over Elli's smooth stomach and her small navel as I spoke.

-Slide...

"Mm..."

"Your stomach. It's really pretty."

"...How pretty?"

"Pretty enough to kiss."

"Then why aren't you kissing it. Do you want to die?"

"Sorry. Could you fix your skirt first? I'll do it then."

"...You said you wanted to see what was underneath. You should've just pretended not to and snuck a look. You're such an idiot, you know that?"

"Oh."

"Moron."

"I'm a moron..."

"Too late now. If you look down there I'll kill you. Just kiss me."

"Yes..."

-Mm... mh...

"Hm... the licking..."

"Do you not like it?"

"...Do whatever you want."

We held each other like that, kissing and embracing and showing our love for one another for a long, long time, the two of us and the sexy Santa-nim.

Even as the night stretched toward the early hours of the morning, we stayed tangled together on the bed, neither of us willing to let go.

Honestly, I won't pretend my body wasn't on fire. But Elli had said she was holding back for my mom's sake, and there was no way I could lose control and push things further after she said something like that.

On top of that, Uncle Mark was less obvious about it than Mom, but I knew he also hoped we'd wait until we were adults. He trusted me to do that.

I didn't want to betray that trust.

"Thank you, Elli."

"For what."

"For thinking of me and doing the cosplay."

"Hmph. If you know that, then be just as good to me next year."

"Obviously. Next year I'll give everything I have. Study hard, draw hard, keep practicing guitar, and for you, same as this year... no, even better than this year. I'll do everything I can."

"......"

"And then I'll ask for another reward."

Elli's eyes, watching me from where she lay on her side, curved into a soft arc.

I could feel the affection and love in that gaze, and I looked back at her with the exact same thing in mine.

That was how our Christmas at seventeen passed.

I had thought those three years would feel endlessly long, but already one of them was gone.

Only two years left. Until the moment we could be even closer than this.

Hoping that time would come soon, I turned back to her.

"......"

Was she still not satisfied after all that, wanting another kiss, lips moving in that little restless way of hers.

This impossibly pretty Santa-nim.

-Kiss

I kissed her once more.

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